


prise de fer

by littleleotas



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fencing, Fluff, Humour, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-25 06:36:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13828578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleleotas/pseuds/littleleotas
Summary: Shepard teaches Garrus and Thane to fence. Barely. Kinda.





	prise de fer

**Author's Note:**

> For bipolyjack's tumblr prompt, shakarios and sparring; I was having trouble with this because I am no good at sparring, but you know what I am good at? Fencing.
> 
> Before anyone calls me out, I know you say 'prêts' and not 'ready,' technically, but Shepard is being casual-ish, and my second fencing coach always said 'ready' instead, so this is me pouring one out for Moreau, who I hope never finds this.
> 
> No, my fencing coach was not Jeff Moreau.

It was a particularly fine kind of entertainment, watching the two of them spar. Like a tango, her fleet precision and quick responses to his strong, powerful movements stirred something in Thane, an aching longing, an appreciation for the artistry of their fight, a desire for their beauty. Shepard laughed with her mouth closed as her blade circled Garrus’s in a tight circle, beating his blade upon reaching the opposite side.

“You need to be quicker,” she said. “If I see your preparation I’ll just block.”

“Maybe _you_ need to be slower,” Garrus pouted.

She smiled smugly. “Reach can’t get you everywhere.”

She circled her foil underneath his, back to en garde position. She sank into her knees, her left arm flat across her back.

“Well, some of us can’t rely on flexibility,” he said, standing tall with his feet together. “My legs don’t, uh, do that,” he said, waving at her legs with his sword.

She tilted her head to the side in consideration, then mirrored his stance. “Fair enough.”

They stood still for a moment before Garrus pushed his blade forward. Shepard moved her arm across her body, almost gentle in the way she moved his blade aside. He drew his arm back, attempting an overhead slash onto her opposite shoulder. She blocked above her head, laughing incredulously.

“What are you doing?”

He blinked. “Well, that’s how they do it in human movies.”

She rolled her eyes, chuckling as she lowered her sword. “One, don’t get me started on film choreography. Two, that’s more like sabre. We’re fencing foil.”

“Can we do sabre instead?”

“No,” she chirped, tapping her blade against his.

“Would you care for a break?” Thane piped up from the sideline.

“Yes,” Garrus said wearily, turning the blade around in his hands and handing it handle-first to Thane.

“Aw, you big baby,” Shepard smirked as Thane approached her and Garrus took up Thane’s previous position, leaning on a stack of boxes to the side.

Shepard returned to en garde position, and Thane mirrored her, bending his knees in a wide stance, holding his sword at the same barely-upward angle as Shepard.

“Good,” she said. “Ready?”

Thane nodded.

“Allez!”

Thane stepped forward quickly, moving his blade inward and downward. Shepard parried, circling her blade down and moving his blade across, where it grazed her thigh.

“Ha,” Thane exclaimed triumphantly.

“Foil target is chest only,” she said. “Would’ve counted in epee, though.”

“Are you just making us fence foil so you can beat us?” Garrus quipped.

Shepard raised an eyebrow, turning toward Garrus and crossing her arms over her torso with her blade pointed at her toes. “I fence foil because it makes you think harder,” she said evenly. “It doesn’t allow you lucky mistakes or sloppiness. You just have to be good.”

Thane hummed thoughtfully. “It suits you,” he said.

“You’d still have gotten stabbed in the leg, though,” said Garrus.

She gave Garrus a withering glance before turning her attention back to Thane.

They began again, and Thane feinted left, waiting for Shepard’s blade to move toward it to shift right. Shepard caught him, beating his blade aside with a small but powerful movement, and hit him squarely in the centre of his abs.

“Touché,” she said with a mischievous smile.

Thane chuckled. “I can’t help but think, dearest, that the three of us will never be on equal footing in this game.”

“No,” she said, holding her sword to the side as she stepped closer to him, snaking an arm around his waist and beckoning Garrus over to them with a tilt of her head. “I think I know of a game like that, though.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to every boy I ever fenced who thought he was Jack Sparrow and tried to fence me in foil like Garrus tries to fence Shepard. Hope y'all enjoyed last place~
> 
> I'm on Tumblr at verhexen/avelakjar!


End file.
